Major Mayhem explodes into Google Play

Adult Swim has kicked off a new run-and-gun game for Android that's ripe with action. Major Mayhem puts you into the weathered boots of a military superman, who's on a mission to save the world and his girlfriend. The only sensible solution to this problem is guns, and boy-howdy does Major Mayhem have a few of those. Here's a quick run-down of the features.

45 levels of non-stop action

4 game modes

100 achievements

150 mini mission objectives

5 power ups

Battle your way past hordes of enemies in three picturesque environments: Tropics, Metropolis and Desert

Adult Swim has been focusing more and more on mobile games, though their focus tends to be on iOS first (Major Mayhem has been available for iPhone and iPad for awhile now). It would be great to see a lot of other iOS titles make the leap to Android, like Velocirapture, Extinction Squad, and Amateur Surgeon, but I'm sure they're all coming in good time. So far, Google Play hosts the classic Robot Unicorn Attack, Monsters Ate My Condo, and their video app.

Major Mayhem is totally free, though the wealth of unlockables can be acquired through in-app purchases. I've only played a little bit, but so far the graphics are great, and the action is a ton of fun. Get shootin' at the download link below.

Sure, you do not "need" to buy anything to finish the game but if you want to get any chance of getting high scores (creating a lot of mayhem) you will have to play the game over and over again to earn enough coins for the bigger guns.

Don't fool yourself here - the whole game is geared towards getting you to spend money for coins. The amount of coins you earn by playing are small. Heck, even the fact that they offer you to be able to continue play a level for 500 coins makes it very obivous that it is all about money.

I'm sorry but I don't see them getting IAP more "right" than anyone else. The problem for me is this:

A game without IAP where you earn coins to upgrade weapons and buy new stuff is balanced so that you get a steady stream of coins and thus never have to feel it will take to long to get those upgrades.

A game with IAP for coins needs to make you feel that it will take to long to get those coins from the game and thus offer a quick and easy way to get access to the cooler stuff.

One of the few games I think got IAP right is Plague on the iPad. The in-game currency is "DNA-points" and in the game you start with bacterial diseases and after wining can move onto more and more complex and hard diseases. They could have offered DNA-points as IAP but instead just made it possible to unlock later levels which means you still have the same challenge as anyone not unlocking levels since earning DNA-points will be just as hard/easy.

The whole IAP-business is slowly is killing mobile gaming for me personally. I rarely download free games anymore since I know they almost all now only want to milk money from me by artifically changing the gameplay so I am compelled to buy and buy and buy.

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